Heraldic pillow

click to embiggen

So I'm making a pillow with my SCA heraldry on it for camping!  I'm using the faux batik process that I saw on That Artist Woman.  It works great!  For details on how to, click the link.  I'll just be sharing what I learned.

I bought a multi-pack of brushes, but only used the biggest and the smallest.  They kept shedding little hairs that I had to pick off the brush.  I just used regular old acrylic paint that you would use to paint ceramic figurines.  The fabric is plain 36" cotton muslin, pre-washed and dried in the dryer to make sure it's shrunk and all the sizing is gone.

Draw LIGHTLY, especially in areas that will be light colored.  Extra pencil lines do show in your finished project, and even the white eraser doesn't get rid of them all.  Make sure that you leave enough space for a seam allowance if you will be sewing this into something!

The glue has a nice fine tip, but if you have a lot of lining to do, your hand will be sore!

Make sure that all your glue lines go to the edges of the fabric, and that there are no glue "bridges" for the paint to seep under. When they say "leave overnight to dry" they aren't kidding.  Do this in a place that won't be disturbed, NOT the kitchen table on a night when you want to eat as a family!

The paint should be fairly thin, but if it's too thin, your results will look washed out.  I made mine too thin, and I also had some problems with paint traveling under the fabric on the wax paper.  Make enough paint to fill your whole area if you want to ensure that it's all the exact same color.  Also, make SURE that your fabric can't move, or you will get smearing across color boundaries.  It may help to let adjacent areas dry most of the way before you paint the next section, to avoid wicking.

DON'T hang to dry if it's really wet.  I got a drip that crossed a glue boundary that was helped by gravity.  Also it drips on your bathtub and you have to put down a towel, and this paint will not wash out all that well.

Once it's dried all the way, wash the glue out by hand in your sink so that you can change the water until it's clear.  Then you should be good to put your artwork in the washing machine.  Doing this and then putting it in the dryer will make your painting nice and soft! (Since I'm making a pillowcase, this was important!)

I used a pillowcase from my bed as a loose pattern, but took the method of finishing from MADE for making ConKerr Cancer Pillowcases for charity.